Cork's Siobhan McSweeney encouraging people to embrace pre-loved fashion 

Actor, TV presenter, sustainable fashion supporter and Cork woman Siobhan McSweeney has launched the 2024 Oxfam Ireland Second Hand September campaign.

The campaign, which kicks off on September 1, highlights using sustainable and pre-loved fashion and aims to raise awareness around the impact of the textile industry on the planet.

As part of the month long initiative, people are being encouraged to ‘Dress for the World You Want’ and make conscious decisions around buying clothes second hand.

Sustainable fashion

Siobhan McSweeney is known for her many appearances on our screens, but she is also respected for her support of sustainable fashion and buying pre-loved clothes.

The Cork woman she was happy to give her support as the lead ambassador for this campaign as it is a cause close to her heart.

“I’ve learned lessons from being a poor student and then a poor actor. Later I gained a bit of income — yet I’m still shopping in the same places, which are all second-hand.

“There are more interesting clothes, the items are better quality, they’re more size inclusive. It makes sense to me as somebody who is interested in clothing,” she said.

“My favourite element of buying second-hand is that I am not contributing to the mess — and landfill,” the Cork actor added.

According to Oxfam, there is over 92m tons of textile waste produced each year and only 15% of textiles are recycled or donated.

Oxfam are calling on people to embrace second-hand for a month and with a network of 48 shops throughout Ireland so there is no shortage of shops and clothes to choose from.

Oxfam is asking the people of Ireland to come on board with the campaign using the hashtag #OxfamIrelandSHS to share their stories throughout the month.